AAS Annual Conference 2023
KF Korean Studies Reception

Friday, March 17, 2023, 7:30–9:30p.m.
Boston Sheraton Hotel, Back Bay B

Welcoming Remarks
Amb. KIM Gheewhan
President of the Korea Foundation

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen:

I am Gheewhan Kim, President of the Korea Foundation.
It is a real pleasure to welcome you to 2023 KF Korean Studies Reception.

This is my trip back to Boston in 6 years and my first time attending Annual AAS Conference.

I want to say my sincere greetings to Korean Studies scholars and congratulate Professor Hyaeweol Choi on her being elected as vice president of Association for Asian Studies. This is a very good news as well as a very positive sign that the Korean studies has been achieving greater foundation.

Demand for Korean language and Korean studies is surging from K-12 to higher education, and is growing rapidly year after year. According to the recent report published by the Modern Language Association of America in 2019, enrollments in Korean language classes have increased 486 percent since 1990, while enrollments in other languages, such as French and German, decreased.

Another example is the K-12 Korean language program at Concordia Language Village in Minnesota, run by Concordia College for nearly 25 years. The enrollments in Korean language classes have been making robust increase in recent years, which implies a need for more trained teachers of Korean language and Korean studies.

I highly respect and commend the passion and dedication of Korean studies scholars, who have contributed to expanding breadth and depth of the Korean Studies.

Korea is increasingly known as one of leading democracies with cutting-edge technologies and industries. Korea remains firmly committed to common universal values, including freedom, human rights, protection of environment, rule of law, and basic democratic values.

In recent years, we are watching a rise of 한류, “Korean Wave”, covering pop music, drama, movie, food and beauty. Now Korea is also known, as a country of strong soft power.

As global interest in Korea builds up, Korean Studies will face greater opportunities not only to strengthen current subjects of language, literature, history, sociology, anthropology, and social sciences but also to extend into the new subject areas based on new demands for arts and culture and science and technologies.

KF will remain firmly committed to keep providing support and strengthening focus on the Midwest and the South states, where Korean Studies programs are relatively recent, so that we can reduce disparities in Korean studies programs in the United States and beyond.

KF will keep assisting Korean Studies universities to expand collaboration networks and clusters so that they can benefit and support each other. A good example of regional networks is the BTAA Global e-school Program in the Midwest, which is led by the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the University of Michigan.

Private sector collaboration is another important consideration. KF will continue to help broaden these opportunities in the future.

I wish all of you good health and prosperity.

Please enjoy the evening. Thank you.